Mark 13:1-4
Introduction
In the first study we did on the Olivet Discourse we saw that Jesus answered the disciples’ questions in Verse 4 with a prophecy about a significant part of the future history of mankind.
And in that study, we learnt that most of Jesus’ prophecy is about Daniel’s 70th Week which is a 7 year period known as The Tribulation.
In this study we will be looking at Verses 1 to 4 which are the verses that lead up to the Olivet Discourse.
However, before we look at these verses, I would like us to understand the structure of Chapter 13.
The Structure of Chapter 13
Verses 1 to 2
The temple in Jerusalem and it’s destruction
Verses 3 to 4
The disciples ask two questions:
First question: When will these things be?
Second question: What will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?
Verses 5 to 31
Jesus answers the second question
Verses 32 to 37
Jesus answers the first question
It is important to remember that Jesus answers the first question last and the second question first.
Bear this in mind as we take a look at Verses 1 to 4.
Verses 1 to 2
In Verse 1 we see Jesus and the disciples leaving the Temple. They are heading for the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple. See Verse 3. In between the Temple and the Mount of Olives was the Kidron Valley.
As they leave the Temple, one of the disciples draws Jesus’ attention to the temple buildings. He wants Jesus to agree with him about how wonderful the buildings are. The temple that they were looking at was not the one built by Solomon. That one had been destroyed centuries earlier by the Babylonians. Instead, they were looking at the one that had been built by Zerubbabel and then improved by Herod the Great to make it more impressive. This temple was known as the Second Temple. At the time of the Olivet Discourse, Herod’s improved temple had not been finished but it was still very impressive. The outer court of Herod’s temple measured 500 by 300 yards (about the size of 16 football pitches). It covered 35 acres of ground. The stones used to build the temple were up to 12.8 metres long, 3.4 metres high and 4.3 metres deep. Herod’s temple looked like ‘a mountain of marble decorated with gold’. The temple looked indestructible.
But look at how Jesus responds to the disciple who marvelled over the Temple. He prophecies it’s destruction. This prophecy came to pass 38 years later when the Romans destroyed it in 70AD. This shocking revelation gets the disciples attention as we will see in the next two verses.
Verses 3 to 4
In Verse 3 we see that Jesus and the disciples have arrived at the Mount of Olives.
In response to Jesus’ prophecy about the destruction of the temple, four of the disciples ask Jesus two important questions. Bear in mind that this was a private conversation between Jesus and the inner circle of the disciples.
The first question that they ask is, “When will these things be?” Then the disciples ask a second question which is related to the first one. They ask, “What will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?”
But there is something odd about these two questions. The tense is plural. The first question asks about ‘these things’ and the second question asks about ‘all these things’.
But the destruction of the temple is just one event. So, what’s going on with these questions? When the disciples asked these questions, they had in mind a prophecy in Zechariah. See Zechariah 14:1-4. This prophecy speaks of an event at the end of time when all of the nations will surround Jerusalem to attack it. And when that happens, the Messiah will set foot on the Mount of Olives and wipe out the enemies of Israel and establish His kingdom.
So, when Jesus speaks about the destruction of the temple, it prompts the disciples to ask Him about all of the things that will happen during that end times period. We see this more clearly in Matthew’s version of the Olivet Discourse. See Matthew 24:3. The disciples wanted to know what was going to happen in the period leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus and the ‘end of the age’. The current age ends with the final judgement that accompanies the Second Coming of Jesus.
In the first question there is a verb of existence. It is the word, ‘be’. If your bible uses any other word than ‘be’ it is a bad translation. ‘Be’ is translated from the Greek verb ‘eimi’ which means to be or to exist. So, in their first question, the disciples are asking when The Tribulation will come into existence or be. And in His reply to that question, Jesus will tell them three times, “no one knows”. See Verses 32, 33 and 34 to 35.
At the end of the second question there is another important verb. It is the word, ‘fulfilled’. ‘Fulfilled’ is translated from the Greek verb ‘synteleo which means to come to completion. So, in their second question, the disciples are asking when ‘these things’ will be completed. The disciples are asking when the events in The Tribulation will reach their completion.
With all of this in mind, in the rest of Chapter 13 of Mark’s Gospel we see what Jesus has to say in response to their questions. And as we have already learnt, Jesus will answer their questions by focusing on The Tribulation, otherwise known as Daniel’s 70th Week.